The raccoon chirped a bit at Hirsu, while Ruse merely smirked with amusement.

"Hmmm...well then I also waive any illegality of you considering it - it's an office perk that comes with the position. So, your next sub-objective for this mission, then, is acquiring a piece of witchstone. From what I know of the stuff, you don't need a terribly large piece either - even a pebble would do. The stuff is very rare though, which is why you should consider scouting multiple markets to do some price-checking."

The mist god thinks for a moment, and continues,

"My suggestion is that you immediately hit up the following three markets: The conclave marketplace of Nicodemus, the markets in Niborkerese, and finally the apotheosis circle. You don't necessarily have to hit up on all three of them if you somehow manage to accomplish your objective. Wealth is a viable trade method, but so is barter of goods and/or favors. If you absolutely must, you are permitted to use less...savory methods to acquire a piece of this rare mineral, so long as you don't sabotage the conclave."

The mists swirled around the cave, and he added,

"I can easily thin the mists of my entire realm if need be. I will have the Tjano captured and placed under quarantine in the meantime. My people still know of you, so you can go visit him anytime you like. While it would be easier to just kill the man, that would go against the conclave's expectations of you and would cheapen your accomplishments, so do try to obtain a pebble of witchstone first. I will request your niborkerese access now and will forward you - or have the conclave forward you - the verification in your personal channel."

Tdan Bardrov looked towards Hirsu and tried to smile. It was obvious he had a vague dislike, mingled warmly with respect, for Ruse. "I thank you both for your assistance in this matter," said tdan Bardrov. "Both of you."

He looked at Hirsu, and passed to the God of Life something from within the shaman's pocket. It was a simple, grey, dull and round stone.

"That is my rock," said the shaman. "It will protect you. You were a friend to the smoker of the secret herbs and I feel that we, in turn, may become good friends. It is a friendship gift, then, from me to you - a gift of love. May luck be with you in your efforts against the tjano curse."

Ruse looked on with mild curiosity once again. The raccoon in his arms, however, was looking elsewhere. Most likely at a juicy bug or something else potentially edible.

Ruse sighs, and tells Hirsu,

"It appears life is going to be getting more...edgy for me for a while. As such, try not to advertise your association to me if possible, for your own safety. On the plus side, the Conclave is pleased with your progress on this mission thus far. You need to give them a report of your findings, what you know about this botched hashkashah curse, and the cure, but you can find the process moving forward in your personal channel. I also have obtained niborkerese access for you, should you choose to utilize it."

He waves a hand, and adds,

"Hirsu, if you have nothing else left you need to discuss with Bardrov, then you are dismissed from my presence. You have work to do, and I still wish to speak to Bardrov."

Hirsu took the stone with a small nod. "I hope so as well. And thank you. I will try to visit sometime in the future, should Lord Ruse permit it."

Hirsu rose, and bowed to Ruse. "Thank you for your assistance, High Lord. I have already determined Witchstone is beyond my ability to procure through the open Conclave markets. My thanks for your patience while I performed my investigation, and my apologies for my poor timing."

He took a few steps out of the cave. "Farewell."

Hirsu walked away from the cave, moving through the forest and smoking his pipe. He didn't leave the realm quite yet, however, hoping to finish the pipe's contents and meditate upon its effects before he trying to track down Msonus.

Ruse

"I apologise for destroying your illusion," said tdan Bardrov. "But I could not deceive that man. You understand."

The stone is entirely mundane, High Lord.

Hirsu

Hirsu felt the buzz slowly fade from him as he finished the pipe, and he felt exceptional. A grin crept over his face. He felt like he could do anything at all, everything at all.

Ruse sighed with feigned exasperation, with the usual Mistellan display of over-dramatization.

"Oh, I suspect I know why you did it - honor of the herb smokers and all that. But you should know by now that Mistellans are rather easy to slight. But worry not - I will forgive you this insult. Although please no not do such a thing again - especially when you don't have full knowledge of the situation. If you must know, which you don't - he is a god I am trying to groom to be a low lord, as well as generally a defender of the tree. I needed to observe him unnoticed, but directly, to assist in that endeavour. But you slightly ruined that, but overall he is still doing good."

He rolled his eyes, and continued,

"Now enough about that. I came to declare to you that I am, as you can see, fully manifest now, as well as to meet with you. So bardrov, please do tell me about yourself."

Hirsu felt his power swell, his connection to everything grow. His confidence grew along with the world. New realities were within his reach, if he would but reach out and touch them. If he would be reach out and take them for himself.

The desire to try something foolhardy was hard to resist. He could call the spirit of the Msonus of old to answer his questions. Or perhaps just share some pleasant conversation. He could shatter the barriers of time, perhaps meet the makers of the Towers. He could gaze upon the future, read the omens and alter them to his will. He could fashion a world in his image. He could climb the Tree, leap from its branches, and let the wind take him where it will.

But he knew this power wasn't his to abuse. The power belonged to the herbs. He was merely borrowing them.

With practised ease, he drew mystical symbols in the air around him, in the dirt at his feet, and over his skin. The misty air hung heavy on his robes, and dampened his hair, droplets spraying from him as he moved in fluid movements punctuated with sharp halts. He called the spirits of the herbs he had imbibed.

Ruse

"There is very little to say," said tdan Bardrov, apologetically. "I am a shaman and a smoker of the sacred herbs. I fight the tjano and practice the hashkahash. I am not, as you may of guessed, native to this Realm. I -"

There was a terrible scream from somewhere below.

"I fear that is my friend," said the shaman. "Forgive me, Roose."

And the shaman was gone. Disappeared entirely into the mist. Ruse found himself standing alone in the tdan's quarters.

Hirsu

A single sign was drawn, and then Hirsu collapsed, agony stabbing through his leg - the leg, that in another place, had been destroyed. His mystical trance was gone, the affects of the herbs negated, as he cried into the mist.

Suddenly there was a familiar face in front of him, looking down sympathetically. It was tdan Bardrov.

"Hush, my friend, hush," said the tdan, kindly. "The pain will pass shortly."

Twice now this man had slighted him, and twice now Ruse had let him off the hook. It was good that he was feeling patient at the moment.

He could sense Tdan was with Hirsu now, but decided to leave them alone. Hirsu would have to learn pain if he was going to make it as a zealous god. Especially given the fact such gods tended to draw trouble to them.

Ruse vanished into the mists as well, and decided to head back to the central province. He would personally help oversee some of the construction, research, and just general progression efforts of his people. (i.e. help get them up to legendary status in more than name)

Hirsu panted, and clutched the tdan's hand. He used the contact to ground himself, and focused himself on healing for now.

Ruse

Ruse returned to the central province, and saw in the distance that the new Conclave Outpost had been erected with no luxury ignored. They'd imported white stone and heavy lumber, and the outpost was very large in size, even as it was under-patrolled by the guardsmen inside of it. Ruse noticed that in addition to the Conclave banners flowing high along the walls of the outpost, showing the magnificent Seal of Odin, the darker banners of the Drachenorden hung.

Hirsu

"Smoke this," said tdan Bardrov, passing Hirsu a paper-rolled smoke filled with all manner of strange herbs. "Nothing mystical about it. Will dull the pain.. but you must decide, friend. Accept the amputation on all levels of reality, or none of them. In between only amplifies the pain."

Ruse grimaced when he saw the drachenorden banners. It wasn't a hostile move on their part - not yet anyway. But it certainly was a mean political jab to the side. Ruse wouldn't be able to fully expel them from his realm until he joined the inner circle of odin. Still, as a high lord and the owner of this realm, drachul would have to moderate his own actions. This would buy ruse the time he needed to figure out a way to oust them.

For now, he would not lose focus over this. He went to his people, and to Vact, and help directly implement the changes and the modifications they would need to be "caught up" with the status of the realm/

A portal opened and Anik appeared. At first the was a snapping noise as if something broke as he step through. The rush of breaking paradox hit Anik... it wasn't nice, it felt like a punch hit him everywhere from all directions... but for a moment anik glowed and his power shielded him from it's wrath, at a cost though, anik's power had been slightly deminished.

Anik relaxed and headed towards Ruse.

Ruse sensed Anik's entrance to his realm. He sent out a telepathic ping to his people and Vact to allow Anik to remain unharmed, and that he was a guest of Ruse's.

The lord of mist flexed his power, and the mists themselves began to recalibrate themselves so that they guided Anik to the central province - and right into Ruse's presence.

Anik noticed the mists... and followed.

Hirsu frowned, and took the paper and smoked it slowly, trying to calm his breathing. "I am regrowing the leg in the place I lost it. I will not accept the amputation anywhere. But there's hidden meaning in your words, my friend."

He nearly lost the smoke as another wave of agony crashed over him, but he managed to hold it between his lips as he grunted. He let the tdan's words circle through his mind a few times. "Paradox. If I can be in two places at once, and not... Everything is shared, but the timing isn't always the same. No, not everything is shared. Experience, memories, but not effects, wounds... maybe not even power."

He looked at the tdan. "I can turn it off, can't I? Shut down the sharing, without shutting down that copy of me."

Ruse and Anik

Anik was unharmed - unnoticed, even - by most of the Mistellans. He soon came upon the central square, and saw his associate, High Lord Ruse, in the center. They had matters to discuss.

Hirsu

"Can't you?" asked the tdan Bardrov, not unkindly. "You are the master of your own body and soul. You have smoked the sacred herbs. Try. It could not hurt any more, now, could it?"

Ruse grimaced in exasperation, and with a sigh said,

"Thank you for coming, Anik. And right when we can finally meet, Khor shows up. I'm sure you realize that it is my duty to head over to Bilbligh and try to think of something. That Khor is individually stronger than either Desafon or Pitcarn, and if they are idiots and try to duel him honorably or something he will outlast them and kill them."

A portal popped open behind Ruse.

"Anik, I am quite interested in what you showed me before and am willing to continue a discussion with you in the future. However, unlike you my paradoxes are limited to normal parameters. If we survive Khor, perhaps you can come here again? I do apologize for the inconvenience."

With that, Ruse vanished into the portal to Bilbligh.

Hirsu considered the tdan's words. He was right, how much more could it hurt. He closed his eyes, and tried to focus on cutting off the feedback from his Niborkerese self. He focused on his divine senses, looking for the connection between his different selves. Paradox was a tricky thing, something that broke all the normal laws. It was tied to him, to each of him. His sight turned inwards, his awareness descending deep into himself.

He visualized each self, and the connections between them. The connections weren't reliant on space or distance, they weren't physical things. Instead, they were divine in origin, and existed outside of normal dimensional thought. But for now, he pictured the connections as pulses of light. Each self would send concentrated bursts of experience, knowledge, sensory information, and power across the worlds to each other self. The packages were being sent in a specific order, the time difference between the selves not a matter of distance but of timing.

He felt each pulse, seeing their weight, hearing its fragrance, tasting its colour, smelling its light. He picked through them as they came at him, until he knew the signatures. Quietly, he shut out the pulses from Niborkerese.

When it was done, he opened his eyes.

Anik nodded. And let this one move out of existence, besides he needed that 10% for his realm.

Hirsu felt that his leg no longer felt pain. It was as if he weren't experiencing paradox at all, as if his leg were in perfect health. Of course, it took some concentration to perform, but he could manage..

"Ah," said the tdan Bardrov. "You see? It is rather simple for your folk. Your are Divine. It surprises me how many of your brothers and sisters act and feel like mortals when they are, simply, something else entirely." He smiled.

Hirsu nodded, and relaxed. "Fascinating."

He stood up, and extended his hand to the tdan. "My thanks, friend, for the lesson. But now, I should return to my own realm for a time. My people still need my guidance. I will return to visit in the future, though. If my studies advance, I'll bring something to fill your pipe with next time."

He smiled, and waited for Bardrov to speak before opening a portal to his own realm.

"Of course," said tdan Bardrov. "Thank you for visiting, my friend. Travel safely. We will meet again."

Hirsu opened a portal, and returned to his own realm.

Thread in a needle - the cries of the wounded - blinding, glorious sun - a hundred dozen stars -

And it was done. He was gone.